“New barbarism” in a civilizational perspective: impact on human capital

“New barbarism” in a civilizational perspective:
impact on human capital


Zarubina N.N.,

Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO University), Moscow, Russia, n.zarubina@inno.mgimo.ru


elibrary_id: 649039 |

Kravchenko S.A.,

Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO University), Moscow, Russia; Institute of Sociology of the Federal Canter of Theoretical and Applied Sociology of Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia, sociol7@yandex.ru


elibrary_id: 77019 | RESEARCHER_ID: H-5769-2016


DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2022.01.04

For citation:

Zarubina N.N., Kravchenko S.A. “New barbarism” in a civilizational perspective: impact on human capital. – Polis. Political Studies. 2022. No. 1. https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2022.01.04


The article was prepared in the framework of a research grant funded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (grant ID: 075-15-2020-930).


Abstract

The purpose of the article is to update the civilizational analytical literature and to reveal heuristic possibilities for researching “new barbarism” as a sociocultural and political phenomenon that depletes human capital. The methodological basis of the work is the “civilizational turn” in social knowledge. Based on the works of P.A. Sorokin, S. Eisenstadt, J. Arnason, the authors consider “new barbarism” as a product of the increasingly complex nonlinear development of modern civilization, brought about by the emergence of the newest “axial contradictions”. The ambivalence resulting from the complication of social realities has a number of positive aspects, including intercultural and intercivilizational interactions, but also a negative side, leading to archaization, social and political destructiveness, which are at the origins of the “new barbarism”. The spread of “new barbarism” is associated with the destruction of the cultural and civilizational heritage of mankind. A special focus is put on the analysis of the phenomenon of “digital barbarism” developing in the context of “secondary axial breakthroughs” of the fourth technological modernization. The basic contradictions of modern development, leading to the spread of “digital barbarism”, are highlighted, including the gaps between the growth of freedom due to the development of digital communications and new forms of social control and surveillance; between the need for new knowledge, creativity, and the devaluation of education and science; between the availability of information, an increase in the production of meanings and the alienation from cultural values, the real life of people. It is concluded that the humanistic approach to technological development is in demand as it can contribute to minimizing various manifestations of the “new barbarism”. 

Keywords
new barbarism, digital barbarism, civilization, civilizational analysis, human capital, nonlinear development, digitalization, humanism.


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